Trump made ‘near-sadistic’ phone calls to female world leaders

US president Donald Trump made ‘near-sadistic’ phone calls to women heads of state, claims a report citing White House officials.

Mr Trump demeaned and denigrated former British prime minister Theresa May and German chancellor Angela Merkel during phone exchanges, Watergate scandal journalist Carl Bernstein reported.

“Some of the things he said to Angela Merkel are just unbelievable: he called her ‘stupid,’ and accused her of being in the pocket of the Russians . . . He’s toughest [in the phone calls] with those he looks at as weaklings and weakest with the ones he ought to be tough with,” one source quoted by the CNN report said.

In exchanges with Mrs May, Mr Trump labelled her “a fool” and spineless in her approach over Brexit, Nato and immigration issues, the CNN report said.

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“He’d get agitated about something with Theresa May, then he’d get nasty with her on the phone call,” one source said. “It’s the same interaction in every setting – coronavirus or Brexit – with just no filter applied.”

According to CNN, Dr Merkel stayed calm during the US president’s attacks — “like water off a duck’s back”, the source said.